On Sunday, Christina was kind enough to assist the nurses in the unit while acting in her role as Clinical Coordinator. She was the first to notice that a patient had recently arrived to the unit seemed to be deteriorating and brought it to the attention of the staff. Christina stayed in the room with the patient while the Respiratory Therapist responded, and she continuously monitored the patient.
The patient's family was notified of the patient's condition; unfortunately, the family lives hours away and were afraid they would not make it to the hospital in time to say goodbye. The family requested that we use the patient's tablet to video chat with them. Christina held the tablet so the family could see the patient and answered all of their questions, while simultaneously monitoring the patient's vitals.
Christina was compassionate in informing the family of the patient's passing and even offered to remove all of the oxygen tubing from the patient so the family could see the patient's face clearly and say final goodbyes. Because Christina was willing to go above and beyond, the patient's son and wife were able to say " I love you" one final time before the patient passed.
Saying goodbye to a family member is already incredibly difficult but doing so over video chat is probably the worst-case scenario. Christina was able to handle this tough situation with grace and skill and help the patient's grieving family through this horrible process.
I am personally extraordinarily grateful that Christina was present in the room to answer questions and inform the family of the next steps following his passing. She kept everyone in the room calm and knew exactly what needed to be done. She remained on the unit while the family came in and even offered to assist with the required charting and paperwork. I know everyone on the unit that evening would say they were grateful that Christina was there that night.